Ebberts v. Edgewood Borough

Citations

• 243 Pa. 595
• 90 A. 334
• 1914 Pa. LEXIS 672

Syllabus

<p>Road law — Boroughs—Change of grade — Abutting lot owners— Measure of damages — Evidence.</p> <p>1. In a change of grade proceeding, the question in determining the measure of damages is not what was the changed condition in any part of the street, but what was the changed condition of the street throughout its whole width, and how did the changed condition affect the market value of the plaintiff’s property.</p> <p>2. In such case it is not error for the court to overrule an objection to the question, “How far did the grade there leave that property, that lot, below the street, at the street line of the property,” propounded to one of the plaintiffs where the objection was founded on the contention that the question of the amount of the change of grade should be confined to the center line of the street.</p> <p>3. In a change of grade proceeding, where the evidence is conflicting as to whether certain lots were below the original grade, and there is sufficient evidence to sustain a finding that prior to the improvement the land was practically on a level with the grade of the street, it is not error for the court to admit evidence to the effect that considerable expenditure is necessary in filling in parts of such property so that it can be utilized at the new grade.</p> <p>4 In such case the fact that an abutting property owner testified as to an amount spent in filling in his property to bring it up to the level of the new grade, instead of testifying to the probable reasonable cost of making the necessary fill, is not material where there is ample evidence given by other witnesses concerning the size of the fill and its proper cost per cubic yard, to show the reasonableness of the expenditure, particularly where another of the plaintiff’s witnesses was permitted without objection to give precisely the same testimony as that complained of, and where the court instructed the jury that none of the testimony upon the' subject of the fill was to form the basis of